By Jason Powell, Prowrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Dot Net Members are listening to my 40-minute WWE Raw audio review. Join us on the ad-free version of the website and mobile website and hear all of our audio content by visiting PWMembership.net.
WWE Raw Hits
Roman Reigns promo: An excellent promo with Reigns turning Lesnar into the heel by portraying him as a selfish part-time champion. Roman played perfectly to the fan base that resents Lesnar holding the title while working a part-time schedule. Reigns may never win over some fans. Still, he clearly won over a good share of the live crowd on Monday. This is the best approach that WWE could have taken with this program since they are still hellbent on Reigns being a babyface. There’s no telling whether this approach will be enough win over the tough WrestleMania crowd, but portraying Reigns as the hard working voice of the locker room against selfish part-timer Lesnar gives them their best chance. It also sets the stage for some great Paul Heyman heel promos. This just became fun.
Ronda Rousey, Kurt Angle, Triple H, and Stephanie McMahon: Back to back good nights for Rousey. She had the heel work of Triple H and Stephanie to thank for her Elimination Chamber segment coming off well. This time around, Rousey showed the intensity that was missing from the nice girl who desperately wants the fans to respect her routine. Rousey’s delivery was far from perfect, but it was a big step in the right direction. And what she lacks in mic skills she helps make up for with strong and natural facial expressions. It was bizarre that WWE didn’t make a huge fuss over Rousey appearing on Raw for the first time going into the show. Their hype for the segment was a little vague to the point that it came off like they were using clever wording to set the stage for a pre-taped segment. Triple H sucker punching Angle was a flat finish to the angle, though it’s wise to make the viewers wait for the payoff of Rousey getting physical with Stephanie.
The Miz, Seth Rollins, and Finn Balor: A good night for Miz with his strong mic work and quality in-ring performance in back to back matches. Balor interrupting the Rollins celebration was a nice touch in terms of establishing friction between the two heading into a now expected Triple Threat match for the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania.
John Cena promo: The tease for Cena vs. Undertaker received the pop of the night from the live crowd. And while Cena is heading to Smackdown in search of that elusive path to WrestleMania, it feels like it’s only a matter of time before the gong sounds and the dream match is made. After all, there’s not an obvious WrestleMania level opponent with an open dance card waiting for Cena on Smackdown. It will be interesting to see what Cena does at WWE Fastlane. I could see him being added to the WWE Championship match or somehow convincing Shinsuke Nakamura to put his WrestleMania title shot on the line.
Alexa Bliss, Nia Jax, and Mickie James vs. Asuka, Sasha Banks, and Bayley: The usual good promo from Bliss to start, though it was hard to figure out why James was still hanging with the Raw Women’s Champion. It became apparent once they set up the six-woman tag match in that they simply needed her on the heel side. The story of the actual match was mostly about Bayley dropping off the ring apron when Banks went for a hot tag. Michael Cole framed it as Bayley getting a measure of revenge to establish that this wasn’t a heel turn. It will be interesting to see if we get a Banks vs. Bayley match at WrestleMania or if they are working toward a multi-woman title match. In this scenario, I could see Asuka challenging Charlotte for the Smackdown Women’s Championship with Bliss defending her title against Jax, Banks, and Bayley (and perhaps others). This might explain why we haven’t seen an actual heel turn by Banks or Bayley. It’s possible that a turn still occurs, but it’s also possible that they are merely creating tension between the two heading into another every woman for herself style match.
Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt: Hope! It started with Wyatt saying that he’s coming for Hardy. Granted, that’s pretty common pro wrestler promo jargon, but I have been so anxious for WWE to send a camera crew to the Hardy Compound that I was open to the possibility that this was foreshadowing Bray going after Hardy at his home. It was probably a reach since history sadly shows that nothing Wyatt says in his promos means anything on a deeper level from a storyline standpoint (boo creative team). But then came the Matt Hardy tweet in which he wrote that his war with Wyatt will be fought on his terms and on his “battlefield”. Cameron, North Carolina, here we come!
WWE Raw Misses
Braun Strowman vs. Elias: A minor Miss for a segment that just didn’t feel as big as you’d expect for Strowman on the road to WrestleMania. Are they just killing time for Strowman with another WrestleMania match in mind or will Elias end up being his opponent? It was interesting that the limo arrived backstage while Strowman was chasing Elias. I wasn’t sure if we were supposed to assume that Triple H and Stephanie were inside the limo or if we’ll find out it was someone else who will be revealed at a later date. Could it be an opponent for Strowman? Will they reveal a partner for Rousey who isn’t Kurt Angle?
Sheamus and Cesaro vs. Titus O’Neil and Apollo in a best of three falls match for the Raw Tag Titles: It appears the idea was for this match to make up for all of the non-title losses that Sheamus and Cesaro took against Titus and Apollo. I get it, but this program has felt like filler from the start. I did come away intrigued by Sheamus and Cesaro boasting in an interview that they have beaten everyone there is to beat. Raw desperately needs a healthy babyface tag team. The Revival could step up and point out that they haven’t beaten them and perhaps even turn Sheamus and Cesaro babyface. However, this could also be the launch point for an NXT tag team such as the Authors of Pain being called up as babyface challengers.
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